Historic Dock Road set for pedal power

A major £52m roadworks scheme to better connect the north of Liverpool to the city centre has entered a new phase.

Contractors for Liverpool City Council have now completed works widening a major junction between Leeds Street and Great Howard Street (A565) and have moved on to begin a radical overhaul of the city’s historic Regent Road (also known as the Dock Road) to be more pedestrian and cycle friendly.

The first element of the Regent Road project involves the laying of new pavements and road resurfacing with the creation of new footpaths to begin in February, followed by a purpose built cycle lane which will open up a new 13 mile riverside route from Formby in Sefton to the city centre for the first time.

A seven mile southern cycle lane will then connect to Otterspool when the proposed upgrade to The Strand is completed.

Preliminary groundworks have begun to address culverts and drainage with the first phase, starting at the city centre heading north to the Grade II listed Bascule Bridge at Stanley Dock in the city’s World Heritage Site, expected to be completed in Summer 2018. The second phase which goes north of the 86-year-old bridge is scheduled to complete the following summer.

The scheme will be complemented by the creation of a further two new waterfront link roads, at the cost of £20m, at the city centre end of the A565, which are being built to support a proposed new £50m cruise passenger facility and new £30m Isle Of Man Cruise terminal.

The first phase of the A565 upgrade was completed by Graham Construction in September 2017 after a year-long road closure enabled the £10m replacement of the Great Howard Street bridge, so it could handle more freight tonnage for the Liverpool2 deep water container terminal.